Our Farm: By the Animals of Farm Sanctuary (Knopf Books for Young Readers)

Hey everyone:

Well now that the cover art is up on Amazon, I'd like to share with you that I have a new book for children, slated for publication via Knopf Books for Young Readers in the Spring of 2010. Our Farm: By the Animals of Farm Sanctuary celebrates the beautiful non-human animal residents of Farm Sanctuary, a national organization devoted to protecting farm animals. Once again I collaborated with the artist Robert Rahway Zakanitch, pairing my poems with his beautiful paintings. A portion of the proceeds from the book are being donated to Farm Sanctuary, www.farmsanctuary.org.

 In addition to being motivated by the beautiful animals that live at Farm Sanctuary's two shelters, and the organization's cause, the creation of this book has been the flower that grew out of my personal cancer diagnosis. I'd already wanted to write the book, but once I was diagnosed with cancer, I became even more motivated to get it out into the world. Word came from the publisher that it was a go while I was going through chemo and soon everything was in writing. I wrote on those good days when I wasn't going through chemo or recovering from surgery, and let it rest when I was. It was definitely the star on my horizon during some very dark nights, and I cried with relief once the book's cover was up on Amazon, somehow making it that much more real. I hope you will all like it :).

 Best,

 Maya